OECD Broadband Statistics to December 2006

Over the past year, the number of broadband subscribers in the OECD increased 26% from 157 million in December 2005 to 197 million in December 2006. This growth increased broadband penetration rates in the OECD from 13.5 in December 2005 to 16.9 subscriptions per 100 inhabitants one year later. The main highlights for 2006 are:

European countries have continued their advance with high broadband penetration rates. In December 2006, eight countries (Denmark, the Netherlands, Iceland, Korea, Switzerland, Finland, Norway and Sweden) led the OECD in broadband penetration, each with at least 26 subscribers per 100 inhabitants.

Denmark and the Netherlands are the first two countries in the OECD to surpass 30 subscribers per 100 inhabitants.

The strongest per-capita subscriber growth over the year comes from Denmark, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and Ireland. Each country added more than 5.8 subscribers per 100 inhabitants during the past year.

Operators in several countries continue with their upgrades to fibre. Fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) and Fibre-to-the-building (FTTB) subscriptions now comprise nearly 7% of all broadband connections in the OECD and the percentage is growing. Korea and Japan each have more than 6 fibre-based broadband subscribers per 100 inhabitants.

Japan leads the OECD in fibre connections directly to the home with 7.9 million fibre-to-the-home subscribers in December 2006. Fibre subscribers alone in Japan outnumber total broadband subscribers in 23 of the 30 OECD countries.

The total number of ADSL subscriptions continues to fall in Korea and Japan as more users upgrade to fibre-based connections.

DSL continues to be the leading platform in 28 OECD countries. Cable modem subscribers outnumber DSL in Canada and the United States.

The United States has the largest total number of broadband subscribers in the OECD at 58.1 million. US broadband subscribers now represent 29% of all broadband connections in the OECD.

Canada continues to lead the G7 group of industrialized countries in broadband penetration

Broadband connections included in OECD data must have download speeds equal to or faster than 256 kbit/s.

The new FTTH/FTTB category includes fiber-to-the-home subscribers and fiber-to-the-building subscribers who are connected to the fibre in the building via LAN type technologies (e.g. Ethernet). The category does not include VDSL, which is included in DSL figures.

The “other” broadband category includes satellite, fixed wireless and power line communications. It does not include 3G mobile technologies.

Data is sometimes updated after publication if official figures are available to replace estimates. This can lead to differences in time series data from what may have been published earlier.

Population data used to calculate “per capita” figures is typically from the previous year. Current-year population data is inserted once it is available and will have an effect on historical data.

Data December 2006

Broadband subscribers per 100 inhabitants, by technology, Dec. 2006

DSL

Cable

Fibre/LAN

Other

Total

Rank

Total Subscribers

Denmark

19.6

9.4

2.6

0.4

31.9

1

1 728 359

Netherlands

19.5

12.0

0.4

0.0

31.8

2

5 192 200

Iceland

28.8

0.0

0.2

0.6

29.7

3

87 738

Korea

11.4

10.7

7.0

0.0

29.1

4

14 042 728

Switzerland*

18.8

8.8

0.0

0.9

28.5

5

2 140 309

Norway

21.7

3.8

1.5

0.6

27.7

6

1 278 346

Finland

23.5

3.5

0.0

0.3

27.2

7

1 428 000

Sweden*

16.0

5.2

0.0

4.8

26.0

8

2 346 300

Canada

11.4

12.3

0.0

0.1

23.8

9

7 675 533

Belgium

14.0

8.4

0.0

0.1

22.5

10

2 353 956

United Kingdom

16.5

5.1

0.0

0.0

21.6

11

12 993 354

Luxembourg

18.2

2.2

0.0

0.0

20.4

12

93 214

France

19.1

1.1

0.0

0.0

20.3

13

12 699 000

Japan

11.1

2.8

6.2

0.0

20.2

14

25 755 080

United States

8.5

10.3

0.3

0.6

19.6

15

58 136 577

Australia*

15.0

3.3

0.0

1.0

19.2

16

3 939 288

Austria

10.6

6.4

0.0

0.3

17.3

17

1 427 986

Germany*

16.4

0.5

0.0

0.1

17.1

18

14 085 232

Spain

12.1

3.1

0.0

0.1

15.3

19

6 654 881

Italy*

13.8

0.0

0.4

0.6

14.8

20

8 638 873

New Zealand

12.7

0.6

0.0

0.7

14.0

21

576 067

Portugal

8.7

5.1

0.0

0.0

13.8

22

1 460 341

Ireland

9.1

1.3

0.0

2.0

12.5

23

517 300

Hungary

6.1

3.8

0.0

2.0

11.9

24

1 198 709

Czech Republic**

4.8

2.1

0.0

3.7

10.6

25

1 086 620

Poland

5.2

1.6

0.0

0.1

6.9

26

2 640 000

Slovak Republic

3.4

0.7

0.9

0.2

5.1

27

274 108

Greece

4.4

0.0

0.0

0.2

4.6

28

512 000

Turkey

3.8

0.0

0.0

0.0

3.8

29

2 773 685

Mexico*

2.7

0.8

0.0

0.0

3.5

30

3 728 150

OECD

10.5

4.9

1.1

0.3

16.9

197 463 934

Notes:

* Data for Australia, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Sweden and Switzerland are preliminary estimates based on September 2006 data.

** The OECD statistics for the "Other Broadband" category of the Czech Republic include a large number of fixed wireless broadband connections provided over mobile networks. Broadban subscriptions over 3G networks are not included for other countries but an exception was made for the Czech Republic because the connections make use of "fixed" equipment in a home (are not mobile) and offer speeds greater than 256 kbit/s to individual users. The Czech market is particular due to the high number of these wireless broadband connections as a percentage of total connectivity. It is important to note that there is continuing debate in international circles as to whether this type of wireless connection should be included in international broadband comparisons. The OECD will begin to collect a separate category of wireless/portable broadband in the future.